(This is just my attempt to remedy some situation, brought forth by my obsession with certain tragic five-dom.)

Their legacy would be continued.

Even though they were dead, their children would live, safe from the burden their parents were forced to bear. Safe from the master of fate or whatever he called himself these days. Tharodin and Nariel, they named them and kept them a secret. And now after their deaths, those two would start all over in Brethil, their last resting place. The forest would shield them from harm.

Tharodin inherited his father's traits and personality, while Nariel inherited her from her mother. They were children born from the blood of a cursed family and now they would have to avoid the one who cursed them in the first place. The other option was to fight against him and win, something their parents never managed to do. The victory was survival. Since Morgoth cursed them to die in bitterness, surviving itself would be their greatest victory against him. And since their parents died in the forest, they knew that they had to go elsewhere. But where?

The answer was obvious.

"Our grandfather is the great friend of king Turgon and our grandmother is likewise with king Thingol. But what to choose?"

"I say we choose the first option." Nariel said gently

"Good idea. But we have to find it on our own." Tharodin said "Our grandfather is trapped and even if he weren't, he won't tell us. We have to find it on our own."

And so, at the next dawn, the siblings born from siblings snuck out of the forest and traveled northwest, towards the general direction of Angband. They figured our that their destination could be there, because the enemy won't suspect it being so close to his domain. After some days of trekking, Nariel saw it. The white tower.

"We're close."

Then they saw someone clad in grey-blackish cloak methodically striking a rock in regular intervals.

"You approach him, you're more friendly than me." Tharodin advised

Nariel nodded and approached the person.

"Hello. My name is Nariel. And what is your name?"

The person ignored her

"Are you deaf?" Nariel tried again

At this, the person straightened, looking at her with sharp eyes. He scoffed

"No, I am not deaf. I just don't want to talk to your kind. You're filthy and not worthy of us. Name's Maeglin, by the way." he told her and stalked off.

Nariel continued staring at his back, confused.

"What's with him?" she thought

"Please forgive him." another person said "He is the rotten one of the bunch. We'd never say this to his face, ties to the royalty and all, but he is gonna screw us over some day.

"We all know it." third person agreed "I am Ecthelion and that is Glorfindel. We're the gate guards." here his voice dropped "Our other job is to guard Maeglin, in secret of course."

Nariel chuckled at this

"Hey, I heard that!" Maeglin exclaimed indignantly

Ecthelion and Glorfindel just chuckled at this and entered through the gate, followed by two siblings. Once they were brought before the king, they bowed to him. His daughter stood up

"According to the laws, you two must stay here for safety reasons. Though we may need two more pairs of eyes to keep my wayward cousin under control. There is something evil about him. I cannot help but worry." she sighed "My cousin is so unlike your grandfather."

"You know?" Nariel asked

"It's not so hard to notice. My cousin might see things better than the rest of us, but it's not that hard to notice either. My name is Idril, by the way. I want you to enter my own house. We're all divided in houses and mine works in secret.

They accepted. Time passed and they were working on various projects. Then Idril began to get restless. One afternoon, she called them. The five other members were already there

"I called you here to construct a passageway from here to the hills behind the city. And the house of mole must not, under any circumstances, know about this passageway if we're to live." Idril explained

The people gathered nodded.

"Good. Dismissed."

The door opened and Maeglin came in. He observed the people gathered, then turned to Idril.

"Your father wants you to come in."

He turned to leave. In the next moment, he lay sprawled on the ground. Nariel stood above him, solemn expression on her face.

"Are you all right?" Nariel asked with fake concern.

Everyone present started laughing

"The mighty Maeglin, owned by an Edain." Ecthelion wheezed in between bouts of laughter

Maeglin glared at him, and he left, followed by a reluctant Idril. Ecthelion and Nariel lingered

"Nice tripping." Echtelion said

"Did you see his face?" Nariel replied, laughing.

(First chapter done. I couldn't help but poke fun at traitor. He deserves it, if you ask me)

The city gleamed white in the sun. Tharodin and Nariel watched it in silent admiration. The designs were superbly done and the city itself looked beautiful. There was the fountain in the middle as well and it felt alive. As for the people, all of them were friendly to them, probably due to their heritage. All except one, that is. The duo was coming towards them. The female in the duo smiled and beckoned them to join. The male, however, looked up. He turned around and headed back towards the palace.

"Now that we're rid of him, we can talk in peace. How is the passage construction going?" Idril questioned

"Pretty well, actually. It will be finished around next month, probably." Tharodin was the one who answered "This city is beautiful." he remarked

"Beautiful? I suppose....." Idril trailed off "Though as long as Maeglin is here, that beauty will not last. My father actually likes him, being that he is the last re'sminder of his deceased sister. But I've seen otherwise. Darkness yearns for light, after all. It's all it can do to be free."

"That reminds me of us. Our family is cursed and we will do anything to get rid of it." Nariel said cautiously "It comes from there." she added, pointing north, where Angband was.

"I know." Idril said sympathetically. "Anyway, there is a tournament next week. Maeglin's idea." she added with disdain.

"Is that so?" Tharodin said, standing up "Well, then, I'll have to beat him in his own game."

"Go ahead." Idril said with mirth "He needs to be humbled."

The rest of the day and several days after were spent in preparation. Of course, there were also times when Tharodin, Nariel and Idril would spend some time together, sometimes with and sometimes without Maeglin. The animosity between two parties was clear and Idril was caught in the middle.

"I can see why you're distrustful of him." Tharodin told Idril one day, and his sister silently agreed

"Yes." Idril said thoughtfully.

After the tourney was done and won by Tharodin through his sheer determination to live, the city became peaceful. Weeks passed and then it was discovered. Outside the gate, there was a seemingly dead body of Maeglin. As it was soon discovered, he was alive but barely.

"Morgoth.....he tortured me." he said "When he saw that I wouldn't break, he tossed me out. I barely returned here alive."

Unknown to everyone but the living corpse, on a high rock there was a large Orc which was sneering down at them.

After that, things began to change. Maeglin became more withdrawn and the atmosphere itself became heavier. Idril grew to worry. However distrustful she was, he was still her flesh and blood. She shared her worries with the siblings, but they couldn't do much. Then another suprise came in the form of their father's cousin, Tuor. Tuor also stayed in the city and was eager to see his kin. However, one day, a change came over him and he came to see Nariel.

"I just wanted to know......how do you go about love?"

"Well, I think the best thing to do is to talk to the one you love and have them know that you love them." Nariel said

The door opened and Ecthelion came in. Nariel fidgeted around until he finished what he came to do and left the room

"Seems to me you're in love yourself. Although you set pretty high standards." Tuor chuckled

"Speak for yourself. You're in love with Idril, aren't you?" Nariel asked and Tuor nodded. Her expression grew more serious at this "Well, hate to break it to you, but you have a love rival. What's more, he is in this room."

Tuor turned around and came face to face with a tall elf. The elf stared at him with sharp eyes. Then, he turned and left, slamming the door.

"This is the black sheep of our little family. Maeglin, the king's nephew." Nariel explained "He is in love with Idril also, but she doesn't trust him."

"The best we can do is survive until old age. That may render his curse on next generations powerless."

"I suppose it's a good idea to try."

After that, Tuor and the siblings didn't see each other much. Until one day. Nariel was walking in the garden, when she saw Idril and Tuor sitting on the bench, with Maeglin towering over them and saying something that clearly made them uncomfortable. Nariel shook her head. She felt a hand on her shoulder

"Aren't you gonna do something about it?" Ecthelion asked "Push him into the fountain maybe. As lord of the fountain, I give you permission to do so."

Nariel looked at the three. The fountain was to their right.

"All right." she agreed, with wicked gleam in her eyes. She approached them and engaged them in mindless chatter. Then there was a push and then a splash. Nariel quietly excused herself and returned to her partner in crime.

"Well done." Echtelion said "Now you can call yourself a true citizen of Gondolin." he turned to look at the trio again "How come that the so called 'sharp glance' didn't see that coming?"

Tharodin and Nariel were sitting a bench of sorts, looking at the sun. The sibling were wondering. Wondering whether they really fit in here. Their grandfather may have been here long ago, before he was broken by Morgoth, but he didn't tell their grandmother or their parents. Even their aunt, as happy as she had been, didn't last. So how could they themselves, born of sin, last?

There was probably no definite victory against Morgoth, not in this world anyway. Their parents were a proof of that. Even more so was their aunt. She was a joy to everyone around her and yet she still died. Their father never got over her death. Their mother never knew of her. And Morgoth had power over their family. Morgoth probably got into Maeglin's head as well. The fallen Vala was not to be taken lightly. He corrupted everything he came in contact with.h'

And so they were here, in front of their parents' grave. The grave that was never real. Their father's corpse was there, but not their mother's. Her grave was in waters down below. And they were living. They were the last thing remaining of both Turin and Nienor. And Urwen as well. Nariel inherited Urwen's traits as well as her mother's. They were no Noldor, but their future was no less bleak.

They conversed regularly with Tuor and Idril, who had become Tuor's wife three weeks ago. They discussed the recent developments mostly. Then one day it happened. Morgoth's forces came at dawn and Morgoth himself came with them, probably because the fall of this city was something he wanted to see himself.

"We should corner him. Make him tell the truth about our parents and aunt." Tharodin said

"I'll do that. You go aid Tuor and Idril. They need that more than ever now." Nariel advised

"You have a point there." Tharodin agreed

He left her and ventured towards the cliff where Tuor and Idril were. Nariel turned towards Morgoth, who was just now fighting against one of the elves. She approached them and stood with her arms opened wide. Eventually, the Dark One noticed her. He asked her what she wanted with a booming voice. She told him she wanted the truth about what he did to her family.

Morgoth laughed and told her that he didn't do anything. He told her that even the reach of the Valar couldn't guarantee the fate of people and that was the choices her family made by themselves that ultimately made his curse possible. He told her that if she made a different choice she might stop the curse from affecting her and her brother like it did with the previous generation.

"Take a look at him, for example." Morgoth said, jabbing his finger towards where Maeglin and Tuor were fighting "If he controlled his lust I might not have found this city yet. But he succumbed to it, and that's why this city is going to fall to me. We all make our own choices and our mistakes shape who we are and what happens to us. I made mistakes myself too. Siding with Ungoliant was one of them. This is the other." here he raised his foot and Nariel saw a gruesome scar on his sole "My reward for trying to look boastful in front of my companions. Your father made the same mistakes I did and it cost him. That is all."

Upon saying this, the Vala went back to the battle. Nariel was left in the state of confusion. If it were possible to avoid fate by not making mistakes, then maybe there might be hope for her and her brother to survive. This thought made her happy for some reason. Her heart told her that some day her parents and aunt as well as their grandparents might return to the life they once knew. There would be second music, performed by firstborn and secondborn alike, and all worthy people who didn't succumb to Morgoth's side would live again.